DAVP allots 40 per cent of the total ad budget to regional channels

DAVP has scrapped the previous condition that only channels with 0.02 per cent of All India channel share will get a share of the spends. In fact, as per the new directive, all channels which are more than six months old are eligible to get a share of the booty. The estimated ad spends on TV of the government may go beyond Rs 350 crore, as per the market experts.

Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), the nodal agency for government advertisements in India, has announced new guidelines for empanelment of private cable and satellite television channels for the central government and various ministries. It states that out of the total budget for the television ad campaign, which is about Rs 300-350 crore, 40 per cent would be allotted to the regional channels.

Interestingly, the directorate had spent about Rs 280 crore in 2009-10 on advertising, while in 2010-11, the spends went up to Rs 300 crore. Also, the spend on newspapers have touched about Rs 380 crore in 2010-11.

According to the existing regulation, any channel with 0.02 per cent of all India channel share is eligible for empanelment. This has been scrapped and as per the new guidelines, any channel which is more than six months old can be empanelled and get a share of the booty. This implies that more channels can opt for DAVP empanelment.

DAVP has also stated that it will not pay for ticker/scroll ads from now onwards as running of scrolls on the lower part of the screen apparently contravenes Rule 10 of the Cable Television Network Rules 1994.

DAVP has announced a flat rate of Rs 23,000 per CPRP (cost per rating point) per 10 seconds, across all time-bands, all channels. However, the previous rate card of DAVP stated different rates for different channels as per different time-slots. To list a few, a 10-seconder on Star Plus during prime time would cost anywhere between Rs 45,000-50,000; while the same time-band on Zee TV would be between Rs 30,000-35,000. At the same time, the ad rates for the regional channels, too, varied from Sun TV being paid about Rs 27,000 for prime time slot, while on Zee Marathi, the same band cost about Rs 15,000.

A few broadcasters from regional channels reveal that these rates were decided long ago, in 2009. The directorate claimed that the rates were on the basis of ratings garnered by the channel. However, it must be noted that the top channels' flock has seen a continuous shuffle since then.

Also, on the website of the directorate, the advisory letters verified the extension of the rates since a long time.

The time has also been divided into six time-bands - 7 am to 9 am, 9 am to 12 noon, 12 noon to 7 pm, 7 pm to 8 pm, 8 pm to 10 pm and 10 pm to 11 pm. Also, the new guidelines state that different rates will be fixed for cricket matches.

The policy also made it clear that there will be a cap of 2 per cent while allocating the ad budget to companies which have one, two or three channels, and the cap will be of 5 per cent for the companies with four or more TV channels.

The policy stipulates that a channel, once empanelled, shall remain on the panel of DAVP for a period of three years.